RetroTech Chris Profile picture
May 19, 2024 15 tweets 9 min read Read on X
Did someone say "Bernoulli"? Well, I did! I recently received some new old stock 20MB disks from overseas. Let's revisit our past disk adventures and see how these new ones pan out! Time for another 🧵


Image
Image
Image
Image
So, first, I decided to start with this disk. We knew it had bad sectors from the last time we explored it. Okay, no surprise there. Sadly, though, a few new ones are bad now too. Oh well!


Image
Image
Image
Image
After running scandisk, I copied some files over, ran chkdsk, and then copied some more. We received a visit from good ol' General Failure, that guy is never nice to us! I did fill up the entire disk, but those failed file copies are a sign that things will not get better!

Image
Image
Image
I was able to quick format the disk when done. I couldn't recall if that would render the disk useless or not. We had to try it for science... after all, this is a Bernoulli disk! (Science. Bernoulli. Get it? Good! 🤣) Image
On to the next disk. I like this one since it is a "classic" compared to the others. But, alas, it is no good. A format doesn't work. Using the Iomega SCSIUTIL to format it doesn't work. It's still a lost cause, naturally. Boo.


Image
Image
Image
Image
So, as such, I'll mark it bad, but I am keeping it since it has that cool older disk aesthetic compared to the rest! Image
On to the next disk, which has known bad sectors. If I pass the right commands into scandisk, it won't bug me every time it finds a bad sector, it will just fix it. Here's to hoping...
Image
Image
Oh man! When scandisk made it to the bad sectors, the drive sure was angry! Have a listen!
So in the end, 18 new bad clusters were patched. Sheesh, these disks get worse every time we use them. Best that we not store anything important on them!
Image
Image
The next one, I had regrettably formatted it with the SCSIUTIL in the past. And this left it in an unusable state. I don't think it's supposed to work that way, there might be something wrong with my drive perhaps.
Image
Image
Alright, let's try one of the new disks! The directory listing shows the usual README suspect! That's good. And scandisk is off to a good start. Oh man, this is going to be a nail biter!


Image
Image
Image
Image
And... kaboom... about halfway through, some bad sectors. I am not going to patch it though, I am going to abort this experiment, I am starting to suspect the drive may have an issue, and I don't want to wreck any more disks.
Image
Image
So, I think to myself, I'll see if eBay has any drives. What do I find instead? THREE new packs of Bernoulli disks for sale... LOCALLY. Wait, what?? Yes, that's right: after having disks shipped from overseas, apparently there are now some available locally! Unbelievable 🤣 Image
Anyway, special thanks to @jk86tech for sending me the disks from overseas! I think I'll work to source a new drive before I open up any more of them. And rumor has it that even more disks MIGHT be on the way now 🤣. To be continued. Thanks for following along! Image
@jk86tech @threadreaderapp unroll

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with RetroTech Chris

RetroTech Chris Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @RetroTechChris

Jul 13
Last week, I took my ISA to USB card out of my Tandy 1000 TX. Today it finds a new home in my 486 DX4/66. Let's get it installed and talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
Image
And before I get into that, recall that if you purchase one of these ISA to USB cards, they are pretty much good for mass storage devices only. Also, I did design a bracket for these a few years back if you need one! Image
When I cracked the case on this system, I realized that pretty much every slot is in use. I am going to remove this second serial port header for now, which freed up the bottom slot. All put back together, and this is what we see now. This is one power-packed 486 PC 😂 Image
Image
Image
Read 7 tweets
Jul 13
A few weeks back, I picked up this X10 home automation system for $5 at a thrift store. Who wants to explore some home automation using Windows '95? Let's have a look in a 🧵 here! Image
Image
First of all, what is probably most fascinating is that you can still buy this stuff from X10's website... in 2025. Go figure! Image
Let's explore what is in the box. If we look at the back of the box, we can see the accessories included. When I opened this up, the CD was missing, as was the serial cable. I bought the serial cable from eBay for about $10 and downloaded software from "The x10 Shop" online. Image
Image
Image
Read 10 tweets
Jul 13
I recently picked up another AST Premium Exec 386 laptop... but not so much for the laptop, but really in search of some spare parts for my other Premium Exec 386 laptop. Let's talk about it and explore it in a 🧵 here! Image
Image
Image
First of all, unlike my Premium Exec 386SX/25 Color, this Premium Exec 386SX/20 is greyscale. It's still really nice though! I imagine that the color variants of these laptops was pretty rare, given the cost at the time. Image
One of my motivations for buying it was to get a nice power adapter. My aftermarket Delta Electronics adapter was looking worse for the wear, and none of my AST OEM adapters work. I think they need a recap (anyone want to help?) Image
Image
Image
Read 21 tweets
Jul 8
I got my $50 HP LaserJet 6L in the mail today, and here it is. Let's have a closer look... oh.. wait a minute... oh no. Yea, not good. Let's talk about it, and some fun I had with it, and my NEW PLAN, in a 🧵 here Image
So, yes, the plastics on this printer were brittle, and it unfortunately wasn't shipped well. As soon as I saw the box, and the size of the box, I thought we might be in trouble. And, yes, we were. Just look at all of those glorious plastic pieces. Image
Image
Image
Image
Here's even more breakage. The front "bar" that connects the two sides together. And this internal mechanism too. Yea, this thing is cooked. Image
Read 6 tweets
Jul 6
I think it's time to consolidate a few more retro PCs 😅. Going to start with my Tandy 1000 TX which already has a new owner! I did a little bit of consolidation into my 1000 SX in preps for sending it packing. Let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
Image
My 1000 SX had an XTIDE card in it, but the 1000 TX had a Silicon Valley ADP50 "hard card" with a 540 MB HDD. I decided to move that over to the 1000 SX. It takes up a fair amount of space, fortunately my 8 bit ISA network card is tiny 😂 Image
Image
Image
This leaves us with a multi I/O card (the 1000 SX doesn't have an onboard serial port), 286xpress processor upgrade, ADP50 "hard card", 8 bit Ethernet card, and 8 bit SCSI card for the Bernoulli box. Sadly, no space for the ISA2USB adapter, so it comes out. Image
Read 6 tweets
Jul 1
I got some 20MB Bernoulli disks in the mail today. Some of them are Tandy branded! Let's check them out and see how many will actually work... time for a 🧵 Image
Image
For the first disk, I decided to try one of the "older logo" Iomega disks. And... well... good old General Error decided to visit. This means that the disk has too many bad sectors to recover... and, yes, each disk does have reserved sectors, I covered that in a past post! Image
Image
Which past post was that, RetroTechChris? I thought you'd never ask. If you are curious about how reserved tracks work on a Bernoulli disk, here you go!
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(